I know that this has been an issue for some time now. When AIS was created, 30 years seemed like a good bench mark to call something "Historic". Today, this logic is incomplete. (Its like the Constitution with out the amendments). There was no foresight as to how this would work 50, 75, or even 100 years later. To me, it is more than a time frame issue. There is what I like to call a, "Form" factor playing as well. By this I mean that there are cultivars that are "falling" into the "Historic" category that would not look any bit out of place if they were to be introduced today. The other factor at play was who was doing the breeding. There was a very small number of breeders in the early years and their output was small and steady. This all changed in the late 1950's and early 60's and then again in the 70's & 80's. Iris hybridizing mushroomed in those time periods and the lines of pursuit were many and very divergent. The number of introductions grew leaps and bounds (sounds like an iris name!
).
There is no question a better "system" needs to be created; and it needs to be able to take us into the future another 50-75 years.
